Claybirds for Dummies
by ISpeltEclipseWrong
Summary: "He was the leader of an elite criminal organisation hellbent on taking over the world, why couldn't he get a stupid lump of clay to resemble a darn bird?" Poor Deidara just wanted a peaceful day, Tobi wants to make a bird. DeiTobi. Short, sweet, and moderately fluffy.


Deidara sighed quietly through his nose, the action calm and involuntary as his mind drifted around nothing in particular. His eyes were focused on the lump of clay that slid easily through his fingers, everything else blurring into fuzzy middle-distance. He was absorbed in his art, observing as if just a bystander to his own artistic mind as clay was called into form.

For once, his head wasn't throbbing slightly with the dull annoyance of a headache, but was instead filled with pleasant haze. It was a beautiful day outside; the sky was clear besides a few cotton clouds, there was a slight breeze, birds were singing, and Deidara had found the perfect spot to sit and rest in the cool shade of a tree. Hey, he may be a criminal but he liked nice weather just as much as the next guy. He cherished these few moments of peace, knowing they never lasted long. They were on their way back from a simple mission, he and Tobi, but had run ahead of schedule. They had a day or so to kill, so spending it in the nearby civilian village wasn't so bad a choice. It was nice here.

Deidara sighed again, more forcefully and annoyed this time, as his blundering oaf of a partner decided to appear from nowhere with all the non-grace of a baby penguin. Tobi dropped down from the tree Deidara was sitting against to stand beside the arsonist, hovering over him slightly.

'Great. 'Speak of the devil', eh?' Deidara thought irritably, setting about ignoring his partner. He purposefully and pointedly refused to look up at the other man for a few long, tense moments. The blond frowned deeply, wishing that Tobi would take the hint and go away. Deidara found it a bit odd when, a few minutes later, his teammate still hadn't blasted his eardrums out with a shrill 'senpai!', but he was thankful for small miracles. Usually, the masked ninja would have made his presence known with some arm-flailing and complaining when he was ignored, but today he stood silently. He seemed to be entranced by Deidara's art as much as the artist was, and for some reason this made Deidara feel uneasy.

Deidara continued to press into the clay softly with his fingers, relaxing his earlier scowl to avoid giving himself another migraine. First his fingers rounded the clay into the shape of a body, then slowly the head took form stretching out proudly from the base as coaxed by fingertips covered in drying clay. A bird in flight, then. Deidara lapsed back into his former trance state as he started creating the hook of the beak, assuming that Tobi had ran off somewhere to play after growing bored watching him.

As such, the young man was a bit startled when he heard his partner speak up softly.

"Can I try, Senpai?" he asked politely, voice at a normal conversational volume for once. Deidara hadn't even known 'normal conversational volume' was an option with Tobi! He noted his partner's voice had changed as well; it was low and calm, unlike the usual high-pitched and childish speech caused by Tobi's excitable nature. It was...Odd. Must be something in the water around here if Tobi was being normal, or maybe Deidara had just dozed off at some point and this was all just a dream. Yeah, that was probably it. Wishful thinking, that's all.

Deidara turned his head slightly, eyes looking up to meet Tobi's own, well, eye-hole, or where the blond was pretty sure his eyes would be. He raised an eyebrow, but couldn't find the animosity in himself to flat-out sneer at Tobi's request today. Maybe he just didn't want Tobi's shrieking voice to return. Yeah, probably.

"I can't go wasting all my clay on you, idiot. You'll just mess up and whine anyway. What's the point if you're going to fail?" Deidara said in an aloof tone, dismissive as always. He often treated Tobi like he was wasting the blond's precious time, but the masked ninja had this infuriating habit of never being deterred.

"Puh-leeeeeeease, senpai?" Tobi asked again, clasping his hands dramatically over his chest as he drew out the 'please'. "I'll be very careful, and you only need to give me a little. I just want to try!" As he went on, his voice grew higher and higher towards it's usual pitch. Deidara felt rising pressure growing behind his eyes and sighed, willing to do anything to keep the peace of the afternoon from being further broken.

"Fine, fine!" Deidara said hurriedly, cutting off more of Tobi's whines. He shifted his claybird to sit in one palm while the other hand hovered, palm-down, over Tobi's own cupped hands. "You won't quit until you get what you want, will you? You're like a spoiled brat," The artist mumbled carefully under his breath. The mouth on Deidara's palm spat out a glob of fresh, non-chakra enriched clay into Tobi's hands. Even Deidara with his unholy love of explosions knew that giving Tobi the means to make bombs would have to be the fastest way to ruin a good day.

"Thank you, senpai!" the masked ninja exclaimed happily. It was no small miracle that Tobi was for once settling for just sounding pleased; it was a huge step up from squealing in delight at the smallest hint of attention. Deidara didn't know what was up, but him and his ears would be forever grateful if it kept Tobi mostly quiet. Deidara grunted a non-committal response as he turned away to settle back in, trying to resume ignoring his annoying team member.

Deidara was curious of Tobi's different behavior, but was managing to shake it off quite well in his own opinion. Even so, he felt a bit odd; every once and awhile he'd flick his eyes over in Tobi's direction to see what he was doing. He was thankful for the curtain his own hair created that kept his partner from seeing his face. Tobi didn't seem to notice either way, but was sitting closer than usual. Oh well; as long as he wasn't going all-out to invade Deidara's personal space with worthless chatter... Why should the artist care, right?

In fact, Tobi's whole attention seemed to be on the blob of clay in his hands. Deidara couldn't see his partner's eyes, but the masked ninja's gaze seemed to be so intensely centered that it was a bit surprising the clay hadn't suffered spontaneous combustion yet. Deidara smirked a bit at the thought, then grinned when his mind conjured up a mental picture to go along with it. He was a bit amused at how serious Tobi was taking something for once. Maybe the kid wasn't so bad, at least he seemed to see the importance of art... Deidara turned back to his own work quickly, squashing down the oddly fond feelings and thoughts. No, don't get attached. Tobi was annoying, and they were Akatsuki. There was no reason to get attached.

After that, they sat quietly together for a long while. After Deidara's initial tenseness that Tobi thankfully hadn't questioned, they lapsed into something more comfortable. After nothing bad or headache-inducing happened for five minutes, Deidara even relaxed a bit. His guard was still up, but this wasn't what Deidara had done before. He wasn't ignoring Tobi, but they were both off in their own little worlds. It was... Companionable.

The peace was broken however, yet again, by Tobi. Every few minutes he'd make a small, frustrated 'hm', or murmur something under his breath. His hand movements were growing harsher and more impatient, distracting Deidara from the corner of his eye. The blond growled when it had finally gone from 'nuisance' to 'I will rip out your throat' levels of annoying, looking up from his mostly finished bird to stare straight ahead of him. He clenched and relaxed his jaw, counting to ten to keep calm.

"What is it? What now?" The blond snapped once he was sure he wouldn't be tempted to blow up Tobi. He turned his head to level a glare at Tobi, vexed at being interrupted again. He expected the other man to shrink away from his scary expression and start squealing apologies as always, but was surprised to find Tobi didn't even look up at him as he answered.

"This isn't working, senpai!" Tobi complained in an irritated tone, although thankfully his voice remained in the unfamiliar baritone and not his usual pitch, maybe he had a cold? "I can't get this dumb bird to look as smooth as yours; it's all lumpy! And it keeps falling apart!" Deidara raised an eyebrow as Tobi continued to rant. He'd never heard Tobi sound so genuinely upset before, hm...

The artist looked down at the mound of clay in Tobi's hands and almost cringed. It was supposed to be a bird, this time perched and passive as a counterpoint to Deidara's own creation. It was lumpy and dry in parts, deep cracks appearing in the surface. The head also seemed to be having troubles staying attached. It looked more like a real bird than Deidara had expected it to, anatomy-wise, even though it took a stretch of the mind to see the lumps as bird parts. Perhaps there was hope for Tobi yet, even though it still looked like something a preschooler would make.

Deidara looked down at his own creation, examining it closely. The wings had been lifted and stretched back into the picture of elegant flight, and the bird's head was raised with pride. The clay was smooth and solid, as it always was when Deidara worked with it. The young man sighed and set the bird carefully aside, turning to face Tobi more fully and motioned for his partner to bring the bird closer.

"Here; if I help you, will you stop whining?" Deidara said, although there wasn't much bite behind it. Tobi was trying, at least, even though he would never be a real artist. Maybe if he got Tobi into sculpting he'd be more bearable, as these past few minutes of concentration on his partner's part were the quietest of their entire acquaintance. He wouldn't mind being all 'arts and crafts' just this one time if he never had to do it again...

"Really, senpai, you'd help me?!" Tobi gasped loudly, once again overreacting to small things. Deidara rolled his eyes and sighed, but nodded all the same. "Of course, Deidara-senpai, I'll stop whining! I'll be quiet the whole time, I promise! I can't believe you're actually helping me... Does this make you my sensei now?!"

Deidara cringed and shook his head fiercely. "Ugh, please no. 'Senpai' is bad enough, thanks." He breathed deeply and looked down at Tobi's bird again, debating how to go about this. He's never really taught anyone before. His nose wrinkled in distaste as he realized something, gesturing down at Tobi's hands with small smirk that was more amused than irked.

"It'd help if you took off your gloves, hm?" he informed his 'student', raising a delicate eyebrow. No wonder the pest's clay was so dry. Deidara thought for a moment; he'd actually never seen Tobi without his gloves or mask. The only bare skin visible was the masked ninja's toes, and that's only because of the sandles he wore. He wondered if Tobi would really take off his gloves, and couldn't help but find himself curious about his partner's hands.

"O-Oh..." Tobi said quietly, looking down at his hands for a few moments. He swallowed nervously before starting to pull off his gloves starting with the left. He tugged the leather off each finger before pulling his hand free, shaking it out to get rid of any lint clinging to his skin from the fuz inside the gloves. Deidara subtly craned his neck to look at Tobi's exposed hand as the other glove was removed. The flesh was the same skin tone as the man's toes, if a bit lighter due to lack of sun. The really surprising thing was the fine crosshatch of scars that completely covered Tobi's hands. The skin on the right hand was loose, and sagged in a way that Deidara couldn't tell what caused it.

Was all of Tobi scarred? No wonder he wore a mask. Deidara felt a bit of sympathy bubble up in him, but pushed it back down. They were ninjas, they all held their scars. In the end, the scars were all they had... Poor kid, though. He'd never met someone who felt the need to cover up so completely; What happened? Deidara didn't ask.

Tobi set his gloves down at his side and turned back to Deidara, holding the small bird in his hands. He shifted so they were facing each other head on. Deidara leaned forward, cupping his hands around Tobi's without thinking. He shifted the bird around gently to see what they had to fix first, and moved Tobi's hands with his own in the process. He hummed softly, eyes intent on the clay creation as his mind whirred through solutions. The artist was oblivious to the world for a few long moments... and thus didn't notice that Tobi's gaze lay on him instead of the work at hand. Then again, it's not that he would have seen with that mask anyway.

"So... What do I do, senpai?" Tobi asked softly a few minutes later when Deidara leaned back, looking satisfied with his findings. Even Tobi wasn't stupid enough to interrupt his senpai when the man so clearly deep in thought, and besides, he liked watching that artistic light in his teammate's eyes. The blond's specialized knowledge always baffled Tobi, as he made everything complex seem so easy and obvious.

"Hm..." Deidara murmured thoughtfully, "Well, now that you've gloves are off it should be easier. I'll just show you." Deidara adjusted Tobi's hands so he could shape the clay less awkwardly. He showed Tobi how to slowly smooth over the cracks without warping the shapes already made; first doing one himself, then guiding Tobi's hands, then making him do the rest by himself. They continued working quietly, Deidara giving Tobi instructions or tips every few minutes. He corrected him verbally or moved the other man's hands manually when necessary, bright eyes flashing up to Tobi's eye hole every now and again, but only when he was sure the masked nin was too focused to notice.

A long while later, the bird was complete... Ish. It looked more like a bird, that's for sure. It's appearance had upgraded from made-by-a-preschooler to made by a genin. It was still lumpy, and wouldn't sit upright without help, but it was definitely a bird. It was better than Deidara was expecting and he couldn't help but feel a _bit_ less dislike for Tobi, at least at this moment.

"Alright," Deidara sighed, pulling himself up from the ground and standing up. He brushed the dirt off from his behind and pant legs before stretching. He hummed softly when he heard his back pop satisfyingly. "I think that's enough for today, hm? You were subpar as expected, but not completely terrible." This was high praise from the arsonist, especially since the subject in question was art.

Tobi nodded absently as Deidara started to pack up, humming something intelligible in response. Deidara tucked the little clay bird he'd been working on into his bag, now finished and dried from the sun. Usually, he'd explode it immediately; art _was_ a bang, but... He didn't know, he just felt he should keep it a little longer. He turned to look at his partner, noticing that the man was still staring intently at his clay bird.

"Well? You coming?" the artist asked, putting a hand on his hip.

"In a bit, senpai. I want to keep retrying with my bird. It doesn't look as good as yours yet!" Tobi exclaimed, looking up at Deidara as he clenched his fist in enthusiasm. It kinda reminded the artist of a disturbing man in a jumpsuit he once saw, although this was infinitely more endea... infinitely less _disturbing._ Thankfully, the hand Tobi used wasn't the hand with the bird in it. Deidara simply raised an eyebrow at the other man.

"You'll never be as good as me at sculpting, Tobi. You lack an_ artistic mind_." Deidara said simply, without malice. To him, this was just a fact. Deidara briefly thought about saying that Tobi would never be as good as him in any regard, but decided that was a little much.

"Oh- I know that, senpai!" Tobi said, waving Deidara off. "You're just such a good teacher; I just don't want your efforts to be wasted! I'll be back at the hotel room in a few hours, I just want to try again."

Deidara thought for a minute before shrugging, turning away from Tobi and heading back to their room. Stupid Kakuzu with his miserly ways, not letting them get separate rooms. Deidara didn't mind, though, at least Tobi didn't snore or talk in his sleep. "Okay, hm. Suit yourself, but just don't get locked out. If you do, I'm not going to wake up just to let you in!"

Tobi just nodded his head and started to once more readjust his bird.

* * *

"God, how the hell does Deidara even _do_ this?" 'Tobi' murmured petulantly, eyes narrowed at the little lopsided bird cradled in his palms. He was the leader of an elite criminal organisation hellbent on and steps away from taking over the world, _why couldn't he get a stupid lump of clay to resemble a damned bird?_ The Uchiha boy sighed as he stood up abruptly and started to gather his things. No, he would not be bested by a claybird; he _refused_ to be defeated by another earth-based inanimate object. He had to ask Deidara for more instructions, since the artist obviously must have left out some tip or trade secret.

Tobi huffed in irritation as he trudged through the now darkened streets. It was long past dusk by now, and Deidara would be asleep. Usually, Tobi would play the idiot and pound on the door, begging to be let in. Tonight, Obito really didn't feel like doing that. He stopped outside their motel door a few minutes later, pulling a senbon needle out of his weapons pouch. He knelt down beside the door, not even bothering to activate his Sharingan to pick the weak lock. The door slid open easily, and Deidara didn't so much as snore. Tobi would usually chide Deidara for being careless and unobservant, but his partner was simply used to Tobi's chakra. If the Uchiha wasn't so paranoid, he doubted he's wake up when Deidara came into the room either.

Tobi entered the room, the furniture looking more like grey blobs in the slight illumination of the covered window. He blinked rapidly to regain his sight as he closed the door behind him, shutting off the light from the streetlamps from getting into the room. There was a soft click behind him as the door locked automatically. He walked over to his bed, setting his satchel down on the comforter before he sat down next to it. He pulled his claybird out of his pocket and looked at it, sighing softly.

He slowly looked up from the bird to Deidara's sleeping face, allowing his eyes to rest on the other man's vague shape in the darkness. God, he really didn't want to wake him; if he did, he'd be in for a world of hurt he couldn't defend himself from for the sake of his alias. Besides, he already annoyed the poor man enough during his waking hours, and couldn't help but feel slightly bad. He debated quietly in his head for a few moments, trying to decide what to do. Red haze spread over his black iris, and then the pattern of his Sharingan spiraled outward and opened like a blooming flower. He did it slowly, so as to not startle his 'senpai' awake. Now with his eye activated, the room appeared to him clear and bright as day.

He watched Deidara for a few more moments; taking in the other man's tussled golden hair and, for once, peaceful face. It was a nice change from him beating up Tobi, that was for sure. Tobi smirked a little when his eyes trailed along Deidara's arm to where his hand was shoved under his pillow, the tense muscles in the blond's forearm speaking volumes.

"Hiding a kunai under your pillow, Senpai?" Tobi asked quietly, more just moving his lips than anything else. He chuckled softly and let his eyes move on from his teammate, falling instead on the artist's bag. There in the front pouch was Deidara's claybird. Tobi arched an eyebrow and stood up slowly. He walked over to Deidara's side of the room and knelt in front of the bag. Tobi kept his eyes on Deidara's face as he very carefully removed the bird, watching for any sign of stirring as he was careful not to break the small creation. Once the bird was free Tobi stood up, crossed the room, and sat on the edge of his bed.

He focused his Sharingan eyes on Deidara's perfect little claybird and slowly a smile spread over his features, tugging at the corners of his mouth. He looked between his own lopsided bird, errors now glaringly apparent, and Deidara's example. He set down Deidara's bird carefully and began to work on his own bird at lightening speed, hands moving swiftly and silently as his eyes tracked every barely-visible movement.

A few minutes later Tobi grinned wider, set both the completed birds on the nightstand, and finally went to bed.

* * *

Deidara was startled awake a few hours later, just after dawn. It wasn't from any loud noise or Tobi-related annoyance, but rather a lack of such things. It wasn't right, or usual, and Deidara immediately got the feeling something was wrong. However, upon discovering his partner was safe and sleeping peacefully, their mission scroll was still tucked away, and insuring nothing important or valuable they had on them was missing... Deidara settled somewhat, although he was still on edge.

_'How the hell had Tobi gotten back in here last night, hm? I was asleep...'_ Deidara thought about inquiring later, but decided that by then it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal anymore. He shrugged, yawned, and got out of bed. He stretched his arms up to the ceiling, then reached down to touch his toes, repeating until he'd worked out all the stiffness of the terrible motel mattress. It was during that that he noticed the two birds sitting on the bedside table. Deidara arched an eyebrow and walked over to the nightstand, scooping up the two claybirds into his palm. One he recognized as his own, but the other...

Wow.

Tobi's little bird stared up at him cheerfully, its little feet supporting the creation's weight so it could stand without assistance, and its wings were relaxed against its body. It was extremely detailed, making the bird look extremely fluffy. Deidara couldn't help but smile a bit down at the sculpture. How long had Tobi been practicing last night? This looked like one it could be one of Deidara's own earlier works...

"Well, I'll be damned," he murmured softly, "I'm actually impressed, I didn't know the idiot could do it." He placed both the birds into his pocket for safe keeping. Maybe he'd keep these two, just for a little bit, as a reminder of the day Tobi wasn't annoying. Even Deidara couldn't squash down the inkling of pride that bloomed in his chest towards Tobi.

He left the room to sponge-bathe quickly in the bathroom sink and get dressed, as they were already late getting up. He prepared their things to start traveling again, the entire process taking only a few minutes. He packed up his bags securely and moved them by the door. He went to go wake up Tobi, lightly shaking his arm in a rare moment of gentleness.

"Hey! Tobi!" he stage-whispered, "Get up, hm. Leader-Sama is expecting us back at the base by tomorrow afternoon."

Tobi groaned and rolled over, Deidara huffed a sigh and smiled a bit.

"Ugh, idiot. We can go get dango, un, but you have to get up now."

Deidara had never seen Tobi shoot out of bed faster, and he couldn't help grinning a bit wider. Maybe Tobi wasn't so bad after all...

* * *

_How to Make Claybirds for Dummies: When all else fails; Sharingan. _

Authors note: Thank you for reading my second-ever fanfiction, yay! Another DeiTobi, as requested by Redskiez who also gave me this lovely prompt! I hope you like the story, Redskiez! Ending was a bit rushed, but I can always go back and rewrite it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I'm just playing around with the characters.


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